Jack is 9!!

 Jack turned 9! What an amazing kid he is growing up to be!  His current favorite things include: harry potter, widdling with his pocket knife, reading, more reading, playing board games, playing soccer, basketball and swimming, doing pranks and telling jokes, collecting rocks, hiking, art, his friends Henry, Declan and Harper, and playing with his sisters.

We are so proud of him and so enjoy hearing him tell us summaries of the books he reads and share his hobbies with us!  

For his 9th birthday we were staying in cabins in West Virginia with college friends and he loved being in the woods and exploring his entire birthday weekend! To round out the birthday weekend, we stopped on our drive home to hike at Hocking Hills and said it is his new favorite place to hike and can't wait to go back!  He is so easy to please and has such a sweet personality.

Each of his sisters has their own special relationship with him.  They each love their individual Jack time and I think he prefers to spend time with each of them on their own.  When we get sitters in the evenings Josie and Charlotte ask Jack to put them to bed everytime and he is so good at it and so sweet about it.  The other morning, after we had a sitter, Josie came into my bed in the morning to share "Last night I was sad and missed you and Jack came to put me to bed and wrapped me in your work sweater so that I smelled Mama and then asked if he could sing to me.  I told him he could and then he laid with me while I went to sleep.  That's when I realized I have the very best brother."  That story is a great description of the way Jack loves and the big heart he has.  Charlotte snuggles up to her "jackie" any chance she can get!  Elisabeth looks up to Jack a lot and currently wants to match his outfits all the time.  We love you so much Jack.  Happy 9th Birthday to the best big brother and the kid we are SO proud to call our son!!  God really blessed us big time when he brought you into this world - you are here to do big things and have a huge heart to share!